Taliban claims attack on court compound in NW Pakistan

A faction of the outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for a recent deadly bombing which killed at least 15 people and injured over two dozen others in the country’s troubled northwest.

According to Press TV, Ehsanullah Ehsan, the Spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban's Jamaat-ur-Ahrar faction, said the Monday’s blast at a court compound "was especially done as vengeance for the hanging of Mumtaz Qadri.”

Ehsan also stressed that the blast targeted the court complex as Pakistan's judiciary was strengthening laws against militancy in the country.

The attack occurred on Monday morning when a bomber blew himself up as the officers were trying to stop him from entering the court building in the town of Shabqadar, located some 150 kilometers northwest of the capital, Islamabad. Authorities said at least two children were among the dead.

Qadri, who assassinated Salmaan Taseer, the former governor of the country's province of Punjab in 2011 who sought reforms to Pakistan's blasphemy law, was executed at 04:30 local time (23:30 GMT) at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi on February 29, after all his petitions and mercy appeals were rejected.

The execution has triggered protests in some cities by supporters of extremist and militant groups. Qadri’s funeral brought supporters of pro-Saudi Wahhabi groups on to the streets, who hailed him as a hero.